Ministry of Justice

Prisoners: Veterans

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of ex-army personnel who are serving a prison sentence for a minor offence in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Andrew Selous: In January this year, as part of our probation reforms we introduced a new tool which sees all new offenders entering prison asked if they have served in the Armed Forces. Prior to this information on ex-armed service personnel in prisons was not held centrally. We intend to publish this information at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly from January 2016, subject to appropriate quality assurance checks having been carried out.

Attorney General

Gurpal Virdi

Sir Peter Bottomley: To ask the Attorney General, if he will meet hon. Members and representatives of the Crown Prosecution Service to discuss the prosecution of Councillor Gurpai Virdi in the case heard at Southwark Crown Court starting on 27 July 2015.

Jeremy Wright: The decision to prosecute Gurpal Virdi for misconduct in public office and indecent assault was made in accordance with the Full Code Test as set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors. The case was handled by a specialist unit within the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), prosecuted by Treasury Counsel and supervised at very senior levels of the CPS.There was detailed legal argument and a defence application to dismiss the case before trial. The application failed. At trial no defence submission was made to the trial judge that the matter should not be left to the jury. Mr Virdi was subsequently acquitted by the jury after a full trial.I understand that the CPS has already written to my Hon. Friend with a more detailed explanation of the decision making in this case and I am satisfied that the CPS have handled the prosecution appropriately. However, I am happy to meet my Hon. Friend along with representatives of the CPS to discuss the case further if required.